Saturday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's grid leans on strict equality zones and a pair of large total-value requirements, which forces you to think several placements ahead instead of guessing.
We've got hints, step-by-step walkthroughs, and full solutions for Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels.
How to Play Pips
Pips is a domino placement puzzle where you fill a grid of color-coded zones. Each zone has a condition you must satisfy using the pip values on your dominoes.
The twist: you must use every domino and meet every condition to win.
Zone Conditions:
- = All pips in this zone must equal the same number
- Not Equal All pips must be different numbers
- > Pips must be greater than the listed number
- < Pips must be less than the listed number
- Exact Number Pips must total that exact value
- No Color Free space, any domino value works
Click or tap dominoes to rotate them. Each puzzle has one or more valid solutions.
Today's Easy Pips
Today's Medium Pips
Today's Hard Pips
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The zone layout is readable, but the combination of a greater-than-16 total and an exact-8 requirement punishes anyone who spends high dominoes too early.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard. The teal (=) zone spans three dominoes and the greater-than-16 teal total competes for the same high values.
Getting one right without starving the other is the whole puzzle.
Our Take: Today's set rewards sequencing over instinct. The players who lock the navy (=) spine and reserve their sixes for the teal zones will finish clean; the ones who chase the pink (=) double first will stall.
The exact-8 orange zone is a satisfying closer, and it is the move most solvers will spot last.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
